Who Moved My Fax?

I recently spoke at the 8th Loyalty Summit in Mumbai which focused mainly on the theme of customer loyalty. My presentation was about the clear links between employee engagement and customer loyalty, and how managers are central to building customer loyalty. Preparing for the conference caused me to reflect on my own experiences of customer loyalty. Were there any particular organisations that I was loyal to as a customer? And, if so, why?I recalled my first experience of a loyalty program. I remember sitting in a stifling hot Australian classroom as an eight year old, enduring a representative from a bank espousing the benefits of saving and compound interest. It would be fair to say that the bank probably hadn't chosen their best speaker for the task, and the room of children were starting to lose interest. It was at that point that the man from the bank revealed a secret weapon. If we signed up for a savings account, we would receive a money box. Now, as an eight year old a money box is about as exciting as life gets. The loyalty program worked, and I signed up for an account.Now that could have been the end of the story, but some 34 years later I'm still a customer with the same bank. In fact I do all my banking with that same bank, including for the business and some insurance as well. It's fair to say that the bank recouped the cost of their money box gift many times over. In fact, I found a similar money box in the bedroom of my nine year old son - the strategy hasn't changed!But am I a loyal customer? On the surface I am. I've been with the bank for a long time. I use a range of products and services. I use these services almost daily. But, to be honest, I feel more 'trapped' than 'loyal'. It has just been too hard to change banks, and the bank hasn't annoyed me enough to force me to change. That doesn't really sound like loyalty. I contrasted that with my loyalty to a watch brand - Longines. For a period of time I took to eBay with a singular focus - to buy circa 1950 Longines watches from overseas and resell them locally on eBay. The idea was that I'd add a better description and photos, and make a bit of a profit. Clearly not enough profit to retire, but a bit of fun nonetheless. The challenge was to find out more about the watches I bought to add a more complete description.Well, I thought, why not try the Longines website. So I simply used the 'contact us' link to ask what they could tell me about a particular watch based on its serial number. I honestly didn't expect any response - perhaps a 'thanks for your query, but we can't help you'. But within a few hours a response came back from a guy named Russell. It turns out that Russell worked for Longines in Switzerland and also quite liked the watches they produced across the 1950s. He had gone into the paper archives (I'm picturing the warehouse from Raiders of the Lost Ark), tracked down the paperwork and emailed me the production date, the sale date and even the name and address of the store that originally sold the watch. Pretty impressive record keeping, but even more impressive service. Over the next year or so Russell and I swapped details of watches, requiring him to take frequent trips into the paper archives. As a result, I would describe myself as a loyal customer of Longines. So what was it that made me loyal to Longines but not to my bank? Well, Russell was customer-focused. But importantly that customer-focus came from a genuine passion for the business and its products. He genuinely wanted to help me out, even though his company wasn't making a cent from my trading of second-hand watches. He was a passionate advocate for his business, and clearly engaged with his work. I trusted Russell. He provided good advice rather than trying to flog me a new watch. And the research supports this - loyal customers are produced where there is trust, great service, and engaged employees. The trust element is crucial - that's the difference your sales and customer service staff can make. But we also know that sales and customer service staff are typically amongst the least engaged with their work. Our challenge as leaders is to serve these frontline staff well - to ensure they are engaged with their work, aligned with the direction of the business, and committed to customers. That comes back to managers - they're the ones in the box seat to create an environment where trust and engagement flourish.It turns out that Russell did have a great manager - a manager who presumably trusted that his trips down into the paper archives were worthwhile in furthering customer loyalty. Perhaps if there was a Russell at my bank they would have been able to gain true loyalty from me as a customer. The impact of a person like that trumps any reward points they might throw my way. So what about your organisation? Are your customers loyal or trapped? Do your managers inspire your frontline staff to further customer loyalty by building trust? Helping managers to understand the links between management styles, employee engagement and customer loyalty might be just what they need. Every business could do with another Russell.

Looking for that next job can be hard. You spend time dressing up your resume and putting together cover letters, but are still not sure if it will be enough to get you through to an interview. And once you do have an interview scheduled, you worry about whether you’ll answer the questions well and say the right things. It can end up feeling like we’re playing a game where we don’t know the rules, or even where the goals are! Thankfully there is one relatively simple principle that will help you stand out from the crowd.
Put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager for the moment. What is it that they want? Obviously they want to hire someone who can do the job well. But how can you prove to them that you’re up to the challenge? Inherent in any recruitment decision is risk - risk that the person isn’t right for the job or can’t actually do what they said they could do. As the candidate, there is an opportunity to help reduce this risk. The more we can provide actual evidence of our capability and experience, the better.
The principle that makes all the difference when reducing risk is “past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour”. It’s hard not to say this without a Dr Phil drawl - it was one of the TV host’s favourite catch phrases. But the principle does ring true. The best predictor of how someone will behave in a particular situation is what they have done in similar situations in the past. Applying this principle to recruitment led to the rise of behavioural interviewing.
You’ve probably been through a behavioural interview before. The interviewer asks you to provide specific examples of how you’ve approached situations in the past. For example “Tell me about a time when you’ve dealt with a difficult customer” would lead you to talk about an actual time when you’ve done just that. The interviewer then explores how you approached the situation and the outcome. As a hiring manager, you’re always going to be more confident in the person who can describe what they have actually done, versus the person who speaks hypothetically about what they would do. Even when an interviewer asks you for a hypothetical example about what you might do in a situation, you’re always going to be more convincing if you provide an actual example of when you’ve done it before. In this way we can help reduce the risk as perceived by the manager who is conducting the interview. So make sure you prepare for an interview by considering relevant examples of where you’ve demonstrated the kinds of capabilities that are required for the role. Having half a dozen examples up your sleeve will help you to demonstrate that you’re up for the challenge of the job.
But providing evidence of our relevant experience and capability doesn’t have to be limited to the interview. Many people make the mistake of using their resume to simply describe the jobs they have had in the past. The resume reads like cut and pasted sections of position descriptions. For a hiring manager, this brings with it a whole lot of risk. How do I know they were any good at that job? Did they ever go beyond what was required? How does this relate to the role I’m hiring for? Applying our principle to resumes means that actual examples are always going to be more compelling than simply listing job responsibilities. You might list some of the successes that you’ve had in each role, or perhaps how you have made an extra contribution to the organisation over and above just doing your job. It is important in this process to always keep the hiring manager in mind. Think about using tailored examples that best relate to the role you’re applying for, rather than simply printing off the same resume for every job. You might also highlight some of the key examples through your cover letter.
Reducing risk for the hiring manager is about using clear and compelling examples of how you’ve already demonstrated the capabilities required for the role. I trust these ideas will help you stand out from the crowd for the next role you apply for.

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About Andrew Beveridge

Andrew Beveridge (Melbourne, Australia - www.beveridgeconsulting.com) is a psychologist and facilitator specialising in the practical science of leadership and employee engagement.Through Beveridge Consulting he partners with organisations to drive business results through workshops & conference sessions, remuneration consulting and candidate assessment.

Andrew is passionate about helping organisations to become more effective through great leadership and engaged employees. He is an experienced and engaging facilitator who combines theory, humour and practical insights.

With over 17 years of corporate and consulting experience, Andrew has held senior leadership roles with Hay Group and Aon Hewitt. This has included over five years as Leadership & Talent Business Unit Leader (Pacific) and member of the Senior Leadership Team (Pacific) with Hay Group. He has consulted to CEOs and senior executives with some of the region’s largest and most successful organisations across all major industries. Andrew combines real-life people management, business management and leadership experience, together with a broad human resources and psychological consulting background.

Andrew holds a Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Honours) and Master of Applied Psychology (Organisational), and is a registered Psychologist and Member of the Australian Psychological Society. Andrew is an Associate with Mt Eliza Executive Education, part of Melbourne Business School.